ON
HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE

Australian model George Lazenby
made his only
appearance as James Bond in a film largely ignored back in '69 by a
public that either missed Sean Connery, or to whom Bond films had
become passé. Today, ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE is
recognized by fans as one of the high-water marks of the series, with
Lazenby as one of its main assets. Lazenby may not have had
the
most polished acting technique, but he succeeded in playing 007 as a
flesh-and-blood human being, rather than a cartoon hero. Diana
Rigg, widely acknowledged as the greatest of Bond girls, is more than
up to the challenge of portraying a woman with enough smarts, savvy,
looks and physical prowess to be credible as a genuine love interest
for Bond, rather than just another one of his bed
partners.

The film itself offers more
character study than
is the norm for Bond films, but there's no shortage of action
sequences, conspicuously free of gadgets though they may be. It
took some time before the film and Lazenby could shake the bum rap they
received at the time of the film's release, but ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET
SERVICE now ranks a strong third on many fans' lists of Greatest Bond
Films (behind GOLDFINGER
and FROM
RUSSIA WITH LOVE), while Lazenby is
now regarded as one of the all-around best Bonds. ½ - JL

The first non-Connery James Bond film
has the best
Bond girl, the best Blofeld, and the best Connery substitute available
at the time. The theme song is also superior, and thankfully,
it
is an instrumental (imagine trying to write lyrics for a song titled
"On Her Majesty's Secret Service"!). The plot, when the film
finally gets around to revealing it, is absolutely ridiculous.
Blofeld will wipe out all life on earth unless he is granted
amnesty and a phony title? There's got to be easier
ways to
go legit.
But that's what makes Blofeld a "super villain", an "evil
overlord" or, if you will, a "wacked out loony tune". In any
case, Telly Savalas makes for one of the most oddly likable
Bond
baddies, his suave and sophisticated handling of the dialogue
playing nicely against
his thuggish looks.

George
Lazenby has admitted letting
fame
and fortune go to his head, which, along with public disappointment
with the film, led to this being his one and only Bond film. If
you ignore the undeniable fact that he is not Sean Connery, he is quite
good, especially in the action scenes. Occasionally, but not
often, you get the feeling that he is in a bit over his head.
If
only he had been given a
chance to grow into the role, then perhaps things would have been
different. But it was not meant to be. After Sean
Connery's
one-shot return in the silly DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, the
Bond films when
into a rocky, through highly profitable, period that would have been
described by poet John
Greenleaf Whittier thusly: "For all sad words of James Bond lore, the
saddest are these: Roger Moore." - JB

"In a few hours, the United Nations will receive our Yuletide
greetings. The information that I now possess, the scientific
means to control, or to destroy, the economy of the whole world."

THE BONDWAGON - MOVIE EDITION

When the world began going Bond crazy, somewhere around the release of Goldfinger, it didn't
take
long for movie producers to jump on the Bondwagon
From 1964 to 1966, France's Gaumont Film Company
released three Bondian spoofs starring Jean Marais in the
dual role of the
villain Fantomas and the hero Fandor. In England, Richard Lester
followed up his successful Beatles film A Hard Day's Night (1964) with
Help! (1965),
which put the Fab Four in a comic adventure that had many Bond
overtones. In the U.S., James Coburn starred in two comic spy
films, Our Man Flynt (1966) and In Like Flint (1967), while from 1966
to 1969, Dean Martin
sailed his way through four goofy films as superspy Matt Helm from
1966 to 1969. Even Hanna-Barbera got into the act with the animated parody
The Man Called Flintstone (1966).

The mother of all Bond parodies was 1967's Casino
Royale, a "royale" mess of a comedy helmed by not one, not two,
but five different directors, each responsible for a separate section
of the film. Despite a cast featuring Peter Sellers, David Niven,
Ursula Andress, Woody Allen and Orson Welles, the film was not well
received. It still retains its bad reputation today, although it
has its fair share of clever dialogue:

"You're crazy. You are absolutely crazy!"
"People called Einstein crazy."
"That's not true. No one ever called Einstein crazy."
"Well, they would have if he'd carried on like this."

Most filmmakers who wanted to cash in on the
popularity of the Bond films opted for spoofs, figuring, perhaps
correctly, that they could not compete with the Bond films themselves,
which were almost self-spoofing. However, films like The Spy Who
Came In From The Cold and The Ipcress File (both 1965) showed
a more realistic view of the world of espionage.

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